> sex clubs
‘Sex Encounter Venues’ as they are called under the Policing and Crime Act 2009, are places where men pay to get sexual stimulation, sex group solidarity and feelings of superiority. They are also known as ‘lap-dancing clubs,’ ‘strip joints’ or ‘gentlemen’s clubs’.
OBJECT’s work on SEX ENCOUNTER VENUES
2020 OBJECTINAR featuring Dr Sasha Rakoff, Director of NotBuyingIt which campaigns against the sex trades, particularly Sex Encounter Venues. Sasha also founded OBJECT back in 2004.
2018 OBJECT supported Not Buying It in protesting against Sheffield City Council’s licensing of a Spearmint Rhino club in the city. OBJECT contributed financially, publicised the crowd-funder and were in court on the day. On behalf of Irene, a Sheffield resident who crowd-funded the case, barrister Karen Monaghan argued that community impact had not been properly considered when licensing the strip club. VICTORY!
OBJECT also drew attention to the fact that Sheffield Councillor Baines slept through women’s evidence of the harms of strip clubs. The Chair had to wake him up. So much for concern for women’s safety!
2017 OBJECT and sister organisation Not Buying It were successful in campaigning against an application by The Red Rooms SEV (Holborn, London) to install private booths in its strip club. Camden Council agreed and refused Red Rooms’ application. Women in the trade tell us booths are used for unlawful sexual activity.
2014 OBJECT chair Janice Williams successfully got the local Council to end illicit lap dancing at Phoenix Bar in Bounds GreenLondon N11. The nearby Post Office was selling an Adult Guide (yes, that kind of Adult) to London at buggy eye level along with the pocket-money toys. After a complaint to a local councillor, the council also had this removed..
2011 OBJECT protested along with UK Feminista and other feminists against the reopening of the Playboy Club in London.
2006-9 OBJECT successfully campaigned for ‘lap-dancing’ clubs to be classified as ‘Sex Encounter Venues’, resulting in a change in the 2009 law whereby SEVs must be licensed by the local authority, who must consult the public interest. We want this law properly applied and further revised to protect women.
Recommended Books on ‘Sex Encounter Venues’
- Danns, Jennifer Hayashi. & Lévêque, Sandrine. (2011) Stripped: The Bare Reality of Lap Dancing
To read OBJECT’s latest blog posts on sex encounter venues, click here.